Always On Your Side
by sunnygirl91
Summary: SongFic...Jack has discovered the real faith. A faith, that never dies. And over the years, he has shared that with his daughter. I swear it's good, i'm just not really sure on a good summary for it. Please, R&R.


_**Ok, as always I do not own any POTC characters or Johnny Depp's fine ass. But a girl can dream...LoL, anyways I hope you like this story. It's been playing in my head for a long time.**_

_**And of course the song...nope, never mine. I know, hard to believe...Now, shall we start the story? (Sheryl Crow...Always on Your Side)**_

She loved the way he slept. The way his lips curled into a smile every hour or so. His long hair draped over his shoulders allowing the moonlight to reflect its beauty around her. And most of all, she loved to hear him breathe. Of course, she knew how cliche that sounded, and that she was nothing more than a rouge pirate's wife. The title didn't mean much to anyone outside herself.

_Oh Jack_, she thought, _Here I go again. Talking about the weather, rumbling over the truth, denying what I need. I want you to stay, you have a duty here as well, love. You have a family..._

Emma laid softly back down beside her husband, knowing those thoughts were lost to the wind and whatever God listened in on her. Soft sobs came from their daughter's room. Another 6 year old nightmare. Emma gently pulled herself out of bed and made her way to the end of the hall.

Sure enough there she was. In all her blue nightgown glory, the tiny Faith clung to her dolly smearing the tear stains down her face. God, even like this she was precious. She had inherited Jack's long brown hair, and her mother's hazel eyes. Faith also possessed these full pouty lips and adoring red cheeks. _We'll have no trouble marrying her off_, Jack would kidd. But right now, she was her mother's baby girl.

"Baby, what on earth is wrong?" Faith reached for her mother's neck and began to pour out a fresh batch of tears.

"Mama, please don't let Papa go!" Emma stared at her daughter for the longest time, not really knowing what to say.

"Faith...why...what's wrong sweetie, why don't you want Papa to go?"

"He won't come back."

"Baby, he always comes back. How could he ever imagine leaving you angel, forever?"

"Mama, I want Papa to stay with me. Please Mama, I don't want him to go!" By this time Jack had awaken and was standing in the doorway.

"Emma, what the bloody..." Jack discontinued his sentence and rushed to hold Faith in his arms.

"What's wrong, my lovely lass?" Still, she carried the same routine. Crying, wailing, clinging to her parents with all her strength. Finally, Jack sent Emma back to their bedroom and placed his daughter back in bed. Except, he snuggled in close to her and she began to find her comfort on his chest.

"Faith, love, you know where you get your name from?" She nodded her head no, and settled in for a great story.

"When I was in a place called Jamaica, a village, very dear to me in ways, asked for help in uncovering the ruins of what was once their temple. Well, no calls for treasure had been unearthed so I decided to lend a hand. Besides, it was the right thing to do...Anyways, after we had discovered their lovely whatever the...heck...it was, their local witch doctor blessed my first born child. And thankfully, it was you. Call her Faith, he said, and she will never be cursed with heartache. So you see, my pretty, crying over your old Dad here goes against a very wise and very decrypted man. You wouldn't want to upset the old man, would you?" She nodded no a second time, with reluctance in her eyes.

"Good girl, now I'm going back to be with you mother. We all have a long day ahead of us. So, goodnight, my Faith." He kissed her on the top of her locks, and headed for the door.

"Daddy?" Jack stopped and turned to see a halfway smiling girl.

"Yes love?"

"Where are you going?"

"Other side of the Caribbeans, have a few old friends to look up."

"Will you bring me back a pretty?" Jack chuckled and nodded.

"Yes, many pretties."

Emma was sitting on his side of the bed when Jack entered their room. He crawled to her, knowing it was their last night together for a long while to come. And when he went for what was going to be a romantic kiss, he was met face to face with a glass vase.

"Damn you Sparrow!" Jack ran to the door, but found it to be locked and he held not the key. Emma kept throwing their trinkets at him, leaving him helpless.

"Emma, love, calm yerself." Emma snorted.

"Calm myself? You lying cheating bastard of a man! How could you leave us like this? You daughter, your only child weeps for you to stay and of course you sail away back to the Turners! And me!" tears welled up behind her eyes, "Me, Jack Sparrow...your wife. Your faithful wife of ten years! How dare...how could you?" Jack stared at his wife, watching her fall to the floor.

"Cheating? Lying? Emma...why do you think..."

"She told me everything!" Jack paled.

"Who..."

"Your whore. Little Miss Scarlet of Tortouga. Funny, the look on her face when she found your land home and wife and child to go with it. Jack...I was your wife...I loved you, I stayed with you when all you had to your name was a pair of boots and a broken compass. How could you?"

That night, they shared a bed, but found themselves miles apart. Locked inside themselves, unaware of the world screaming around them.

_My yesterdays are all boxed up and neatly put away  
But every now and then you come to mind  
Cause you were always waiting to be picked to play the game  
But when your name was called, you found a place to hide  
When you knew that I was always on your side_

Jack bowed his head and left the next morning. Their sunrise was grey. Faith was still sleeping when he kissed her goodbye, holding on to that damn dolly he got her for Christmas. Emma had asked him to leave, he reluctantly agreed. Why the bloody hell did he even think he could settle down? Be a Captain and a lover? A pirate and a good father? Now, his choices were left to haunt his daughter forever. The memory of her last night with Papa, the tears which almost held him back. And Emma, how he regretted the decisions that lead to this. Scarlet, old bloody hag. He never loved her. Never. The only woman, who ever touched his heart, breathed into him was now crying herself over breakfast.

"Captain, we're ready." Jack looked into the face of Gibbs, good friend of ages.

"If only I could say the same..." The Pearl left, sailed away. And all Jack could do was stare into the nothingness of the ocean. His life, his future, gone. A legacy dead. A girl, lost. A woman, broken hearted. And a pirate, regretting. Always, regretting...

_Well everything was easy then, so sweet and innocent  
my demons and my angels reappeared  
Leavin' only traces of the man you thought I'd be  
Too afraid to hear the words I always fear  
leaving you with only questions all these years_

Is there someplace far away, someplace where all is clear  
Easy to start over with the ones you hold so dear  
Or are you left to wander, all alone, eternally  
This isn't how it's really meant to be  
No it isn't how it's really meant to be

Well they say that love is in the air, but never is it clear,  
How to pull it close and make it stay  
Butterflies are free to fly, and so they fly away  
And I'm left to carry on and wonder why  
Even through it all, I'm always on your side

Faith was older now, 20 to be exact. And every now and then she still found herself wandering to the shore, checking the waves and most always dead flowers on her poor mother's grave. Emma lasted long enough to raise a good strong daughter. The year of Faith's first child, her mother died. She had lived a life, maybe not a good one but it was a life. Those were her last words, at least. This particular evening, Faith found herself not alone. A man, older but still strong and handsome crouched to behold Emma's tombstone. He wore a nice shirt, his coat was fresh, chaps clean, and a new dark hat perched on top of his locks. He ran a finger over the inscription. Faith let out a sigh.

"We weren't for sure to put wife or not. We decided against it." Jack turned from his crouch and looked at his little girl, now sharper in the eyes. For the first time in a long while, he found it hard to uncover the right words.

"We?" He asked. Faith nodded.

"Me, my husband Charles, and the children." Jack's eyes widened.

"Grand-babes?" Faith nodded, again. She rediscovered her young tears, those please for her father all over again. And so, when she called for Jack his heart melted.

"Papa..."

"My love..." Faith ran to him, never thinking of being ashamed. A grown woman clinging to her Daddy once again. And Jack soaked it in.

"I promised you Faith, a lot of things. Especially a pretty." He pulled a necklace from his pocket. The sea had taken its toll on the once golden locket, but nevertheless its original beauty shined through.

"Papa, please...I have a few gifts for you."

"Really?"

"Yes, three of them. Alex, Caleb, and Jack..."

"Jack?" Faith smiled in acknowledgment.

"My first born. Mind you Mother threw a fit...I knew you would return Papa. I knew." Jack kissed her on top her chocolate locks.

"I love you Faith. And I regret every day the things I've done. But you want to know something?"

"What?"

"I am so proud of you...if you had put wife on your mother's tombstone she would've crawled out to kick both our asses." Faith laughed, truly laughed. She held her father's hand all the way home, and the shores of the Caribbeans had never seemed as calm, as beautiful as they were that night. Faith never lost faith in her father...never wanting to make a old wise man angry...

_But is there someplace far away, someplace where all is clear  
Easy to start over with the ones you hold so dear  
Or are you left to wander, all alone, eternally  
But this isn't how it's really meant to be  
Oh it isn't how it's really meant to be_

Well if they say that love is in the air, never is it clear  
How to pull it close and make it stay  
If butterflies are free to fly, why do they fly away  
Leavin' me to carry on and wonder why  
Was it you that kept me wondering through this life  
When you know that I was always on your side****

Ok, maybe the ending was a little cheesy...maybe the entire story sucked...I will never know unless you leave a review! So please! Go ahead! But be gentle, I'm still fairly new at the writing deal...

_**Thank you always for reading! Sunnygirl91...**_


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